The present invention relates to a nut feeder for the feeding of nuts for resistance welding.
Japanese Patent Gazette No. 2577177 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Gazette No. H06-238462) shows an example of a nut feeder for the feeding of nuts for resistance welding. This prior art nut feeder has a chute for feeding a plurality of nuts vertically continuously arranged one over the other with their respective threaded holes laying sideways and a piston rod which moves in a lateral direction under an opening of the chute, wherein a nut receiver is supported on an end of the piston rod and a pin which fits into the nut threaded hole is provided in an upper face of the nut receiver. In this nut feeding device, a nut at the lower end of the chute lands at the upper face of the piston rod. The piston rod is then moved backward, causing the nut receiver pin to be set against the lowermost nut. This is followed by tumbling-down of the nut so that the threaded hole of the nut fits onto the pin, wherein the nut is moved forward to arrive at under an upper electrode of the nut resistance welding equipment.
In accordance with the above-described nut feeder, it is however required that the chute be rocked vertically and the mechanism tends to be complicated. In other words, since a nut at the chute lower end lands on the piston rod upper face, it is required that the chute lower end be brought near the piston rod upper face for preventing the nut from falling and, on the other hand, when the nut receiver is moved backward to cause its pin to be set against the nut, it is necessary to separate the chute away from the piston rod upper face for allowing the nut to smoothly leave the chute.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a nut feeder having a simple structure capable of receiving, without fail, nuts from the chute for feeding to under the upper electrode.